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Bihar hooch deaths: Six more deaths take toll to 31
In Samastpur, four people, including two jawans, allegedly died after consuming spurious liquor at Rupali Chak of Patori block in Samsatipur on Friday night, said police
The death toll in suspected cases of hooch deaths in Bihar climbed to 31 on Saturday with six fresh casualties, two from Gopalganj and four from Samastipur districts, said police.
Sale and consumption of liquor is banned in Bihar since April 2016.
In Samastpur, four people, including two jawans, allegedly died after consuming spurious liquor at Rupali Chak of Patori block in Samsatipur on Friday night, said police.
Two persons also fell ill and are currently undergoing treatment at different hospitals.
However, the family members of the three deceased denied consumption of alcohol by the victims.
DM, Samastipur, Shashank Shubhankar, said, “Four people died, but three families have denied consumption of liquor by the victims. We are waiting for their viscera report. Prima facie, it appears that liquor was the reason behind the incident. We also launched a drive to identify people who sat with them for consuming liquor,” he added.
SP, M S Dhillon, Samsatipur, said, “Some bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) were also recovered during the search drive. The police are investigating the matter,” he added.
The deceased persons have been identified as 27-year-old army jawan Mohan Kumar and 53-year-old BSF jawan Vinay Kumar Singh, besides one Shyam Nandan Choudhary (50) of Sangrampur and Virchandra Rai (35) of Rupali. Both jawans had come to their villages to celebrate Diwali and Chhath Puja.
The incident came to notice when they complained about low vision on Friday night. During the investigation, the police got to know that all the victims had bought liquor from the same place.
In Gopalganj, two persons died on Saturday allegedly due to spurious liquor.
Anand Kumar, superintendent of police (SP), said that as many as 36 persons have been arrested in the past two days.
Dr Nawal Kishor Choudhary, district magistrate (DM), Gopalganj, said, “Sternest action will be taken against those found guilty. We have already identified the drinkers across the district with the help of chowkidars and police officials. A major drive has been launched to nab persons indulged in sale or consumption of liquor,” said DM Choudhary.
Meanwhile, at Telhuwa village, where a total of 14 people have died so far due to suspected spurious liquor since November 4, the residents were inconsolable. “We had never visualised a day like this in our lives. This incident could have been averted had the local police acted against liquor traders, namely Munna Ram and Ram Prakash Ram,” said a villager Heera Lal Ram.
Barely a few meters away, deceased Madan Ram’s wife Anita Devi at Dakshini Telhuwa village said her husband was a regular liquor consumer and had the same alcohol along with a few other villagers on the eve of Dipawali.
A total of 14 people died in West Champaran, 13 in Gopalganj and four in Samastipur due to consumption of spurious alcohol, said the officials.
In a related development, a joint team of Bettiah police and excise department conducted raids at 88 locations to look for over 2400 litres of raw materials for liquor manufacturing. “A total of 16 people were arrested,” said Upendra Nath Verma, superintendent of police (SP), Bettiah.
